THANKS to the Reformed Value Added Tax, fashionably called R-VAT, the inventive mind of Filipinos, particularly the manufacturers, are again hard at work
Just a day following the coming of this Darth Vader of a revenue-shoring measure unleashed upon us by the Taxman, what do you hear but the Department of Energy getting into the ‘por kilo’ game by urging liquefied petroleum gas suppliers to offer cooking gas at a much more affordable 1 kilogram-tanks, a virtual retail scheme.
Conventional tanks, as you know, are bulky 11-kg cylinders that fetch for P520 to P540 per kilo at present.

Yesterday’s papers said two firms seem ready to bite the idea, according to the DOE, and may sell the mini-cylinders with 1-kilogram capacities at more or less P60 each. How about that, Misis? Methinks that news has the total effect on the harasse d housewife as being told she’d been picked to join Willie’s Wowowee on ABS-CBN!

We can’t calculate how much a kilogram of LPG would last the user, probably all depending on his cooking needs, but should that come to pass, imagine rows of small cylinders lining up your kitchen or establishments, considering the need to stock on these for emergency use. Now, other than the clear and present danger such would pose on the household or shop, it would, in the end, be even more expensive on the part of the harassed housewife’s budget; as with most items that sell retail, you spend much more on these than if you bought these at standard volume or, in the case of LPGs, weight.

But, all things being equal and from the looks of it, the LPG going ‘por kilo’ (by the kilo) is a practical idea. With R-VAT pronouncing a raise-price-or-die option on the manufacturers of gasoline and allied oil products and the consumers’ buying capacities shrinking more than ever before, anything that would tide people over at the least cost is always a better option.

That’s how those smart sachet, tetra pack, e-load, and atado (retail) idea men were able to make a killing by drawing  in the small budget of the small buyers – thus making fortunes for them, their manufacturers and dealers.

Necessity, after all, is the mother of all inventions. And austerity is its first cousin.